With the kudos bestowed, appropriately, upon the state legislature for cutting the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program debt ceiling from $4.05 billion to $3.45 billion, taxpayer activist Bob Guzzardi note that the state increased the debt burden on Pennsylvania taxpayers by $1,753,862,000 when SB 1002 became Act 69 on July 9.

Guzzardi points out that the bill passed the State Senate unanimously and the House 189 to 14.

None of the nays were a Democrat.

“They can’t help themselves and what does this tell you about who benefited?” Guzzardi says. “It tells me the Philadelphia Building Trades Unions benefited.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has been given a bill reducing the RACP debt ceiling and the state parks remain open. He’s a better man than Obama it seems.

Continuing its commitment to fiscal responsibility, the House sent to the governor a measure to curtail the level of public debt for projects funded by the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

RACP provides grants to local communities for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic and historical improvement projects. The funding may be used for the design and construction of facilities that are economic development projects which generate substantial increases in employment, tax revenues or other measures of economic activity.

House Bill 493 will immediately reduce the RACP debt ceiling from the current $4.05 billion to $3.45 billion. The bill does not eliminate the economic development grant program, but redefines it to make it more financially viable.

Decreasing the Commonwealth’s debt load and reforming RACP is an important step in bringing integrity and transparency to the way Pennsylvania does business.

Congress, last night, Oct. 16, passed a Democrat plan to increase our debt to $17 trillion to the cheers of the bankers, Chinese, government bureaucrats and the establishment media, who unlike the old media never ask probing questions. We were told we were going to default if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised? Was it spelled out how? Failing to incur more debt should not cause a default, and if it does then our economy and way of life is in far more danger than is being reported.

Was it noted that our debt has tripled since Clinton left office with a third of that coming in Obama’s first term? How many stories did you see showing the debt passed 100 percent of our Gross Domestic Product for the first time in history last December?

The American public has got to wake up to the reality that the news they are getting from the local networks and press and daytime television shows is basically propaganda produced for people who are basically thieves and whose interest is clearly not your own.

And thank you Pat Toomey for being one of the 18 senators who voted against this bill and for looking out for the little guy.

After last month’s boardwalk fire in Seaside Heights, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, self-proclaimed fiscal hawk, immediately allocated $15 million in taxpayer money to business owners.

Sorry, Guv, but that’s why God made insurance. Government had absolutely no reason to get involved. Yet it did.

That decision is symbolic of how the United States became so paralyzed by its monstrous debt. A little here, a lot there, often for things that tug at the heart but have no relevance to government, multiplied countless times over decades. The result is municipalities and entire governments, such as Detroit and Puerto Rico, on the verge of collapse.

Now the Piper is calling the granddaddy of them all: The United States government and its incomprehensible $17 trillion debt, and no bailouts or bankruptcies can save that behemoth. Short of a complete reversal of business-as-usual in Washington — cutting debt rather than adding it — things are about to get uglier than ever before.

The airwaves are filled with “experts” admonishing Congress to raise America’s debt ceiling (the amount of debt the U.S. can legally incur) so as to avoid the “catastrophic” consequences of “default” if it doesn’t.

I’m not sure what’s worse: The deliberately disingenuous politicians and media outlets pushing that misinformation, or the ones who, without thinking, actually swallow that pap.

They want you to think this a complicated issue. It’s not. In fact, it’s remarkably straightforward: Aggressively rein in spending with a commonsense approach, or risk an eventual currency collapse that will turn America into a second-world nation in record time. It’s that simple.

So let’s cut through the white noise and look at the facts:

1. Without question, there will be pain if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, but there will be no default. By law, payment on the national debt comes first, and there’s plenty of money to pay our interest obligation ($220 billion) since revenue is more than 10 times that amount ($2.6 trillion). Granted, that’s a ticking time bomb since the principle isn’t being touched, but it’s clear we don’t have to incur more debt to “pay off” existing debt. So let’s not do it.

2. Most everyone concedes the astronomical debt poses a significant problem, yet every time the ceiling is reached, Congress raises it even further — and the shopping spree continues. This of course leads to more deficits and more debt, creating a vicious cycle. (Quick primer: The deficit is the amount we overspend each year; the debt is the total amount we owe). Enough is enough. Keep the ceiling where it is, and force the government to tighten its belt and live within its means, just as solvent businesses and stable families do. Identifying a problem yet looking the other way is impotence. Enabling its growth is cowardice.

3. All the economists, politicians and Wall Streeters who say that not raising the debt ceiling would be the height of irresponsibility need to look in the mirror. How is raising it any saner? Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result — in this case, thinking that increasing debt will prove beneficial — is lunacy. If they’re the best and brightest, I shudder to think of the dumb ones.

4. Prioritize the budget. Force Congress to finally do its job, making them fight like cats and dogs to fund what is most needed. You’d be amazed at how quickly they figure out what’s important — and what isn’t. Pass a law requiring across-the-board cuts. No exceptions, even the sacred cows of entitlements and defense. While it won’t be pretty, people will be much more accepting if they know everyone feels the pain. Most important, get the ball rolling on a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget, as almost all states have that requirement.

5. Magically creating money to pay our bills is insane, but the Fed has been doing just that, inventing $85 billion per month with a keystroke (they don’t even print it anymore. Ain’t technology great?), which then gets pumped into the “economy” via Wall Streeters’ pockets. That’s why, despite the stagnant economy, the stock market remains so robust, artificially propped up by an entitlement program for the super-wealthy. Wall Street has become so addicted to the Fed’s drug that the mere mention of cutting back sends the market tanking, so the funny money keeps rolling. This must end now, on our terms, before the big meltdown occurs, since what goes up must come crashing down.

6. While unfathomable a generation ago, the world now views America as an increasingly bad credit risk. That’s why there has been such a drop-off in the purchasing of Treasuries, and why the Fed itself is buying a trillion dollars’ worth each year.

Many are concerned with the substantial U.S. debt owned by the Chinese, but that’s yesterday’s news. Not only aren’t the Chinese buying Treasuries like they once were, but they (and the Japanese) have been dumping significant U.S. debt while buying gold and silver at a record pace. Think they know something?

The game is up, and everyone knows it — except those in Washington.

A wise man once said there’s what people want to hear, there’s what people want to believe, there’s everything else — and then there’s the truth. And the hard truth is that all of the easy answers are behind us.

To think America can’t fall is arrogance at best, stupidity at worst. It can, and will, unless drastic action is immediately taken, starting with the current debt ceiling being kept intact. Doing so would send an unmistakable message that America is serious about making a comeback. But raising it as a “solution” would be akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic.

With the old media filled with scare stories here is something worth pondering: How exactly can you default by declining to incur more debt?

Well, by running a Ponzi scheme. Nobody is suggesting our government is doing that are they, hmmmm?

If so ending it sooner is better than ending it later.

For the record the federal government is not (yet) running a Ponzi scheme. Revenue not involving new loans is still more than enough to cover existing loan payments. Let’s not let that change. Fight the power.

Note that through October of this year we have spent and $415.7 billion on interest.

Now, just suppose that due to this dispute we fail to make a payment and find ourselves in a technical default? Do you really think people would stop lending us money at a excellent rate if the reason for the missed payment was obviously that we were trying to get our house in order. Don’t let those with an interest in imposing a crushing burden on us panic you. If we can’t say no we can’t be free.

Feds Can Pay Obligations Without Raising Debt Ceiling — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is praising the passage of the Full Faith and Credit Act by the U.S. House of Representatives last week.

“The legislation will ensure that the U.S. government does not default on its debt by requiring the Treasury to prioritize payments on the debt in case the debt ceiling is not raised,” Toomey said.

Toomey authored the Senate version of the bill to protect Social Security benefits and military pay and to require that our government prioritize all obligations on the debt held by the public in the event that the debt limit is reached.

“For months, some political leaders have argued that failure to raise the debt ceiling would necessarily cause the United States to default on its debt,” Toomey said. “This is not the case. If Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling, the federal government will have more than enough money to service its debt.”

He noted that that this year, about 6 percent of all projected federal government expenditures will go to pay off the interest on our debt, and tax revenue is projected to cover about 76 percent of all government expenditures.

“We need to end government by crisis,” he said. “We need to take the default scare tactics off the table. As the sequester proved, limiting spending does not cause the sky to fall. The Full Faith and Credit Act will allow Congress and the President to have a frank discussion about putting our nation on a path to balance by taking the specter of default off the table.”

If the Bank runs out of money, the Banker may issue as much more as may be needed by writing on any ordinary paper.

And this leads us to ponder what exactly are the rules that the Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate that refuses to allow votes on House-passed budgets are using in setting fiscal policy.